Strategy/Wikimedia movement/2018-20/Transition/Discuss/Cluster G

Discussion of priorities: Cluster A - 22. Movement Charter + 23. Interim Global Council + 24. Global Council • Cluster B - 9. Methodology to improve the Wikimedia platform UX + 11. Resources for newcomers • Cluster C - 31-33: Invest in Skills and Leadership Development • Cluster D - 25. Regional & thematic hubs • Cluster E - 2. Funding for underrepresented communities • Cluster F - 3. Increased awareness about the Wikimedia Movement • Cluster G - 8. Align with environmental sustainability initiatives • Cluster H - 36-38: Identify Topics for Impact

This page contains a summary of discussions from the Movement Strategy 5-6 December Global Conversations regarding the implementation of the initiatives: 8. Align with environmental sustainability initiatives. Feel free to continue the conversation on Meta by adding your thoughts and comments in the talk page.

Join the follow-up event

The Follow up event for discussing the implementation of the Align with environmental sustainability initiative will take place on Sunday, February 7, between 15:00 to 17:00 UTC (LINK to join). If you would like to join the event, kindly sign your name below:

--Gnom (talk) 18:27, 15 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Astinson (WMF) (talk) 19:55, 19 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
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--Ilario (talk) 22:33, 25 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
--Christoph Jackel (WMDE) 14:03, 28 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
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-- Femkemilene (talk) 09:06, 2 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
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--Discott (talk) 15:37, 7 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Events summary

5 December

Video summary of the discussion (same as the written points, recorded during the events).

Round 1

Key actions (full notes on Etherpad):

Make information and knowledge available: including content gaps, multiple languages, raising awareness, especially among women and youth. Overall, adding more information is a top priority for the first 18 months, especially about environmental harm and green energy.
Partner with other organizations dealing with environmental changes.
Host carbon-neutral servers. We need to be careful about the power usage/power affectability of our own servers.

Round 2

Video summary of the discussion (same as the written points, recorded during the events).

Key actions (full notes on Etherpad):

During in-person Wikimedia community events, everyone should be able to participate without being intimidated by pollutions (like plastic smoking, etc).
Make an asset map around Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and to promote lifelong learning opportunities for everyone.
Need to share knowledge, like resource, methods and ideas about sustainable development. Some of this knowledge could be shared in-person, other parts can be shared in organized groups (like the Wikimedians for sustainable development, which also works on bridging content gaps in online projects).

6 December

Round 1 There were no enough participants to hold a discussion during this round (notes on Etherpad).

Video summary of the discussion (same as the written points, recorded during the events).

Round 2

Key actions (full notes on Etherpad):

Access to knowledge, especially beyond the limits of English and main European languages, and improving the content in collaboration with others.
Improve tools to present this information. One example is open data AWS, digital earth Africa and other sources.
Wise investment, fund acceptance and spending. Evaluate where our money is coming from and where it is going, including the Wikimedia Foundation investments and reserves.

Detailed input

The rich input from the December Global Conversations, in addition to feedback from other discussions has been further organized by the Support Team into a more coherent template. The objective of this template is to clarify the proposals that have already emerged in the discussions, and to serve as a basis to continue the conversation around the implementation of the Movement Strategy recommendations. The eventual goal is to develop it into a “draft implementation plan” that will be presented to the whole movement and the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees in February 2021. The current template is put forward to serve as the baseline for the upcoming follow-up discussions in January.

The information below has been directly taken from the minutes of the Global Conversations and occasionally edited or rephrased for clarity, so it is not necessarily verbatim.

Who should be involved

Wikimedia Foundation: as an investor in eco-friendly technologies and supporter of events.
Both Wikiemedians and non wikimedians should be involved by either contributing more information about environmental changes and by reacting towards the changes.
Partner organizations: to help provide and create content.

Immediate steps for the next 18 months

Make information and knowledge
- Bridging content gaps in multiple languages, such as environmental harm and green energy.
- Focus on local languages and create awareness among the community on the availability of information on Wikimedia projects.
- Raise awareness, especially among women and youth.
Provide tech support to contributors, including in providing and visualizing data.
- Improve the tools for presenting information and data, using things like the Open Data on AWS (link), Digital Earth Africa (link) and other sources.
Partner with other organizations dealing with environmental change, and with the stakeholders in the environment advocacy field.
- Create pages on Wikipedia listing nonprofits and organizations in rural communities involved in sustainability
Host carbon neutral servers (just like big cloud service providers, such as Azure and GCP, with net-zero carbon release).
Allow everyone to participate without being intimidated by pollution (plastic, smoking, etc.) during in-person Wikimedia community events.
- Ensure that we reduce the carbon footprint in community activities, that is, reduce single-use plastics during the event, and carry out smoke-free activities (link), as well as carrying out the environmental protection bricks (link).
Create policies around how the Wikimedia foundation money is invested and where in terms of sustainability.
- Investing in renewables and away from oil and gas.
- Investing in index funds that indirectly tie you to companies with negative impact.

Needs for resources and support

Support “Wikimedians for Sustainable Development” and similar affiliates.
Share knowledge (resources, methods), skills, and ideas about sustainable development. This includes